Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with many reasons to visit. Known for its exotic animals, eerie caves and incredible landscapes, Sri Lanka is a great holiday choice that can be done on a budget. Sri Lankan tourism is on the rise, which is helping to further develop the economy. Continue…

For all you news junkies, we just wanted to let you know we are OK. We have already arrived in India and were no way involved with the Tamil Tiger attack on the airport and capital.

As we have mentioned before, there is a gap between our immediate location and the blog location. Security was extremely tight as we left Colombo, and foreigners and locals were required to get out of taxis and take a special security bus into the actual airport itself.

We were very impressed with the smoothness and professional nature of the Sri Lankan military at the airport, so we were both quite surprised when we read about the attack by plane.

Just wanted to let everyone know we were OK.

Our latest Contemporary Nomad is not quite royalty but certainly does have the well earned luxury of seeing a lot of the world. And, no, we didn’t give him this title, Ralf’s a self-proclaimed fan of The Big Lebowski. This guy is one dedicated traveler – perhaps, even more dedicated than we are!

Yes, his Dudeness loves to travel. So much so that he is literally using his body to finance his wanderlust. Continue…

Now it’s time to get a little taste of Sri Lanka in motion. Hear the chanting, watch the waves roll in, see the snakes slither… a little movement brings a whole lot of appreciation to the picture.

As our time here in Sri Lanka comes to an end, I must say I am still completely baffled by this country. Even after a month here, we walk through the streets in awe of how much more “together” this tiny war-torn nation seems to be compared to India. Every day, we ask ourselves why?

After thirty years of war, ethnic tension, religious extremists butting heads, massacres, bombings, corruption… shouldn’t this place be a wreck? Why are there so many package tourists taking their holidays here? Why does everything run with relative efficiency? Why are there so many perfectly organized grocery stores? For South Asia, this place is downright affluent.

Why?

When they made a mistake at the train station and I started yelling like I would in India, why did the station master Continue…

Many Westerners are not aware of the fact that Buddhism originated in south Asia. Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal and traveled widely throughout Nepal and India spreading his philosophy where he could. In the 3rd century BC, Buddhism arrived in Sri Lanka where it took hold and, unlike India, never let go. It was in the great Sri Lankan cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, where the Theravada school of Buddhism was refined before the philosophy moved on to Burma and Southeast Asia. Not surprisingly, many of early Buddhism’s greatest monuments are here in Sri Lanka.

But somebody was asleep during Buddhism class. After two thousand years of talking about rejecting materialism, you would think that some of that philosophy might have seeped into the super-Buddhists’ heads. But no, Theravada-land has decided to honor Buddha by charging foreigners extortionate fees to visit all the monuments dedicated to he-who-rejected-wealth. In a land where much of the population earns a few dollars a day, foreigners are charged $25 US a pop to visit each of the more famous sites. Or, you can purchase a Cultural Triangle Pass for a mere $50 US which allows foreigners to visit all the sites except those which are not included. (You seriously need to read the fine print.) I can say without any doubt that Buddha would be appalled.

However, if you follow our blog, then you know I’m an architecture junkie, and Sri Lanka is the king of the giant dagobahs. If you want to see the history, you’ve got to pay up. But don’t think I didn’t share a few thoughts of my own on Buddhism at the ticket booth. Since we payed though the nose (and since it was quite beautiful), we thought the Cultural Triangle merited a full pictorial of its own.

…not a national dish but an unfortunate sleeping accident. And this wasn’t just a single dimwitted fruit bat which failed to understand the danger of power lines. We’ve seen them all over the place, sometimes four or five in a row hanging awkwardly from their charred, twig-like legs.

Apparently caused by the closely grouped wires, this problem seems to be specific to Sri Lanka because we haven’t noticed toasted bats anywhere else. What a SHOCKING way to go! 🙁

It’s the third century AD and you are on a tour of the world’s tallest structures. You’ve already visited the Pyramids of Khufu and Khafre in Egypt and you are on your way to view the world’s third tallest structure. What ancient structure are you on your way to visit? (Hint: It’s in Sri Lanka.) Continue…

Buddhism is central to the Sri Lankan way of life, and with so many important Buddhist sites around the island, much of Southeast Asia regards Sri Lanka as a spiritual leader.

Two of the most frequented pilgrimage sites are the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, and, further up north, the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi tree in Anuradhapura.

From the second floor veranda of our colonial hotel, the Olde Empire, we had a perfect view of the heavily guarded entrance to the tooth temple. You might wonder how Buddha came to loose his tooth. Continue…

Wherever we go along the coast, Sri Lankans tell tales of their survival in the world’s worst natural disaster in living memory – the tsunami. Over 30,000 Sri Lankans were killed in the disaster. Here, the disaster lives on.

Even years after the giant wave struck the eastern and southern coasts of the country, visible signs of the destruction can be found on virtually every beach. Abandoned houses, huge boulders, missing vegetation, odd sand banks, the list goes on. The tsunami did an incredible amount of damage. But it’s the locals’ accounts of the tragedy Continue…